Diet

Behaviour

Migrations generally take place in autumn,[3] with some crabs covering over 100 miles (160 km) in eight months.[4] All crabs are vulnerable to predation when moulting, and M. squinado becomes gregarious around that time, presumably for defense against predators.[5] Females can produce up to four broods per year.[6]

Taxonomy

A review of the species complex around M. squinado was able to differentiate between specimens from the Mediterranean Sea and those from the Atlantic, and concluded that the Atlantic specimens were a separate species, called Maja brachydactyla Balss, 1922.[9] The specific epithetsquinado derives from the Provençal name for the species – squinado, esquinade, esquinado or esquinadoun — recorded by Rondelet as early as 1554.[4]